About Me

I'm a storyteller in the New York area who is a regular on NPR's "This American Life" and at shows around the city. Moved to New York in 2006 and am working on selling a memoir of my years as a greeting card writer, and (as a personal, noncommercial obsession) a nonfiction book called "How to Love God Without Being a Jerk." My agent is Adam Chromy at Artists and Artisans.
If you came here after hearing about my book on "This American Life" and Googling my name, the "How to Love God" book itself isn't in print yet, and may not even see print in its current form (I'm focusing on humorous memoir), but here's a sample I've posted in case you're curious anyway: Sample How To Love God Introduction, Pt. 1 of 3. Or just look through the archives for September 18, 2007.) The book you should be expecting is the greeting card book, about which more information is pending. Keep checking back!

2 Comments:

You are aware, yes?, that under Clinton we gave North Korea hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and even built them a nuclear reactor, in exchange for promises that they'd dump their nuclear weapons program. North Korea cheated on that agreement from the word go, just as they will this time, should these negotiations actually develop into a signed treaty, which they won't.

You blame Bush for failing to negotiate with NK, but how do you negotiate with someone who makes it clear from the outset that they have no intention of sticking to their side of the agreement?

Also, if you go so far as to read the second paragraph of the story Talking Points links to, it says, "But the offer, made last week during two days of intense talks in Beijing, would hinge on North Korea’s agreeing to begin dismantling some of the equipment it is using to expand its nuclear arsenal, even before returning to negotiations." That hardly makes it seem like Bush is making this gesture with his tail between his legs.

Thanks for the notes. I realize we're coming at this from slightly different angles, and Bush's proud no-compromise, no-discussion stances tend to make me flip out, so I may have overstated a thing or two. But here's how I understand it, bearing in mind that I'm merely an enthusiastic amateur at this.

Yes, North Korea is evil and demented. Sure they're gonna try to get the better of any deal, and cheat on deals they do make. But (if what I hear is correct) North Korea wants most of all to be taken seriously as a world power, and as long as we were in talks, we had eyes on the ground, and while he was cheating, we at least knew where the nuclear activity was.

Under our current administration ---whose policy often seems to be, "If Clinton did it, we'll do the opposite"---Bush just called him evil and stopped talking...and the next thing we hear is a big nuclear boom, and we don't have official eyes in the country anymore.

I'm not trying to oversimplify. But to hear Bush talk, you do get the impression that HE oversimplifies (In the debate with Kerry, when Kerry suggested negotiating with NK, Bush said, "But that's just what he wants!"--as if that were a good reason for not doing something that might be in our interests too), and that he backs up his brash talk with tough stances that wind up costing the country a whole helluva lot when a sensible person might see the value of compromise.

When it comes to foreign policy, I'd rather have a well-meaning weasel than a rock-ribbed idealist. Idealists can get you killed.